“Goya’s Ghosts” premiere; Esthetic Education presents new album.
Milos Forman, a Czech director working in the USA, added another movie to a number of works based on the legacy of genius artist Francisco Goya with the release of his movie “Goya’s Ghosts.” Forman, known worldwide mainly as the director of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” is a nominee and winner of a number of film awards, mainly for the afore-mentioned screening of Ken Kesey’s novel, as well as “The Firemen’s Ball” and the musical “Hair.” His latest work, “Goya’s Ghosts,” didn’t win any nominations for prestigious awards so far, yet it has all the features of a true festival movie involving a lot of history, art, love, drama, and prominent actors, such as Stellan Skarsgard, Natalie Portman and Javier Bardem. The film is not the first biopic in the director’s career – the movie “Amadeus,” based on the life of Austrian composer Amadeus Mozart, is named among Forman’s most famous works. In “Goya’s Ghosts,” Forman elaborated on the life of Spanish royalty painter Francisco Goya and concentrated on the period of his life when the artist was deeply in love with his muse, Ines. Of course, as is the case with all such movies, it’s based only partly on fact, while the rest of the story is the result of the screenwriter’s imagination, yet the atmosphere of those times plays a leading role in the film. According to Forman, Goya’s lover was scandalously accused of heresy and sentenced to death, and the only person who could help the young lady and prove his friendship was an old friend of the painter – Brother Lorenzo. In reality, there’s not much known about this tragic love affair, but the year in which the story takes place, 1792, was truly crucial for the artist. Goya, highly praised by the crown, underwent a harsh fever, was left deaf, and it took five years for him to recover. After the incident Goya created his “Black Paintings,” a series of dark mystic images for which he was later called the first modernist artist. Though his career in court actually ended after that period, his works and his pioneer technique inspired the noted painters of the 20th century, among who were Monet and Picasso.
Various cinemas. See Movies for more information.
The band fronted by charismatic Louis Franck, Esthetic Education, is going to present its new album, “Werewolf,” with a concert at the open-air club Privilege. The history of the band began in 2002, at the Moscow show of top Ukrainian rock band Okean Elzy. After the concert the two musicians of band, bass-guitarist Yuriy Khustochka and keyboard player Dmitriy Shurov, became acquainted with Franck. At the time, Franck, who is also a film director, was busy working on his movie “Marfa,” starring his wife, famous Russian actress Dina Korzun, and was looking for someone to help him create a soundtrack for the film. Khustochka and Shurov agreed to help, and though the movie still remains unreleased, the coordinated work of the three talented musicians led to an unexpected result. In 2004 Khustochka and Shurov abandoned Okean Elzy to create a band together with Louis Franck and their debut album, “Face Reading,” was released later the same year. In September, the band’s first concert took place at Kvartira club, and demonstrated Western-standard rock to the audience, while the front man’s singing style could easily be compared to that of musicians of the most fashionable modern British bands. The name of the band has its own story. The musicians came up with it accidentally after seeing a poster with the inscription “esthetic education” on it on the wall of their first rehearsal base. During 2005-2006, the musicians of Esthetic Education were extremely active in their creative work. They shot three music videos and released a maxi-single on the Ukrainian record label Lavina Records. In 2006, they released a live album called “Live at Ring.” Finally, the band’s latest album, “Werewolf” was released on April 23. This is Esthetic Education’s fourth release, but the musicians consider it to be their first full-fledged album. The album was recorded at the legendary Brick Lane Studio, where such famous musicians as Queen, The Clash, and Madonna recorded their works. For example, songs “Regret” and “Broken Arrow” were played on the old grand piano once used by Freddy Mercury. “Werewolf” consists of 12 tracks, including the popular song “Unbelievable,” which became the soundtrack to the Ukrainian movie “Orangelove.”
Privilege club /former Green Theater/ (2 Parkova Alleya). May 13 at 8 p.m., Tickets Hr 50
